News dateline Netherlands - Holocaust documents in Bad Arolson, Germany

 Tracing Persons,  Families, in the Holocaust

Attention must be paid.

The International Tracing Service, based in Bad Arolsen, see ://www.its-arolsen.org/english/index.html/ has released news information of a Nazi archive in Bad Arolsen, Germany, that holds information about victims and their histories, and the process of the exterminations.

Transparency obstructed.  These documents are being given to certain institutions for examination, but families and survivors want the release to be general and unrestricted. See
www.ibmandtheholocaust.com/articles/WashingtonJewishWeek/HolocaustSurvivorsSteaming.htm/  Why does the United States prevent electronic access from the Holocaust Museum in Washington to the Bad Arolsen archives, see http://hnn.us/articles/38788.html/  Survivor outrage. What happened to that issue?

As of 2007, it looks like policy decisions were made in the US as to who was a victim, what groups did what, did American corporations involve themselves in aspects of the Holocaust for profit, such as providing means to those ends?  and they do not want new information to come out or change that?  Is that so? See IBM and the Holocaust at ://www.ibmandtheholocaust.com/articles/ag/BadArolsonIBMandInsuranceCompanies.htm

Transparency. Open the windows. What's behind the woodpile? Here, Austria.

Visit the website for how to make inquiries. An layperson's overview of this organization is at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Tracing_Service.

The fates of millions are documented there.  See ://www.religiousforums.com/forum/current-events/76170-holocaust-archives-bad-arolsen.html

History sites - Netherlands in the Global Picture

 Timelines

 How long since you were in school. Take time to put each country visited into a larger perspective.  The boundaries, the concepts. Timelines clarify migrations.

Recommended:  Do not miss the Metropolitan Museum's site on timelines. Go to www.metmuseum.org/TOAH/ht/08/euwl/ht08euwl.htm, for the Low Countries 1400-1600, and play around the menus for whatever else you want to know.

Planning for, say, two days in Amsterdam. Resource.

 Thirty-Six Hours Series, NYT

A good resource for any trip is the New York Times travel section, for articles under the "36 hours" theme.

On July 22, 2007, the "36 Hours Amsterdam" by Gisela Williams at page 11, laid out an excellent overview. Complete with map. This is especially good because it includes sites for real activities, not just walking and viewing. Try it. Get a bike, eat, find a bar, dance, go up the watchtower, discover pancakes, dress up, go to the factory and party and beach it.

Food - often fine Indonesian; Dutch East Indies history

Food - often Indonesian. Excellent.  The best heritage from a colonial past is the immigration back to you when you think you are done.  Your culture is enriched, the formerly exploited get a boost in European citizenship if they want, and the food is enriching.  Indonesian food:   http://www.indochef.com/  Go to the fast food steam table places.  Excellent, believe it or not. Pop in, point to what you want, enjoy.Buy imported ingredients online at ://www.dcimports.com/inspec.html/.

Indonesian was best for fast food. For a full Dutch meal, there are many soup-stew-potato combos. See recipes at www.godutch.com/windmill/recipes.asp?id=all&hist=2. To us, that looked like the Irish - our roots - don't let a root go to waste.

Whenever an address like this is too long, just stop at the dot com, and see what else is helpful.

Indonesia was a Dutch colony, and has a long and varied history - see www.regit.com/regitour/indonesi/about/history. You may remember the colony as part of the Dutch East Indies - see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_East_Indies.

Itinerary After the fact - Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg

We did these three countries in one trip:

NETHERLANDS -
1. Amsterdam,
2.West to stretch and see the sea: Zandvoort
3.South to tiptoe: Lisse - and the tulips
4. South meander: The Hague - Leiden - Delft -
5. World War II - Rotterdam
6. West to particular nest of windmills - Kinderdyke
7. West to Bridge Too Far area, World War II - Nymegen (this bridge they got; it was Arnhem that was too far) and Grosbeek (also Canadian army memorial)
8. South toward Mastricht, too much traffic (Bush there) so lovely time at alternate small scenic Valkeburg
9. World War II - Bastogne

LUXEMBOURG -
9. Ettenbruck -
10. The General Patton memorial at Diekirche
11. Castles at Vianden, - Larochette
12. Luxembourg City -- the tunnels

BELGIUM -
13. Napoleon at Waterloo
14. Brussels - do feast on the street vendor snails
15. Ghent - Kortrijk -
16. World War I at Ypres - my uncle (Canadian) fought there; a distant cousin with the Scots is buried in nearby Arras, France; look it all up at the documentation office at Ypres and go find them. Nobody forgotten until forgotten.
17. Antwerp -stay on the 1950's retired and moored cruise liner near the old city docks

NETHERLANDS -
18. West to Middelburg - see the model of the bomb that decimated this rural town WWII
19. Domburg and rural peninsula areas, over the dikes
20 Gouda - park and walk, even if hefty walk. Canal parking is risky.
21. Alkmaar -- must see the cheeses. Stay in center Alkmar-
22. North and west and drive across the huge dike holding back the North Sea, the Afsluitdijk -
23. Medieval Urk, once an island, now in the middle of reclaimed polder
24. South again to get more of Bridge Too Far area - Het Loo - Arnhem (there the big bridge is, the one that was too far) - Amersfoort -
25. North to Haarlem -
26. Amsterdam - Hoofddorp was best place to sleep before flight out next day from Amsterdam's airport

Rules of the road, driving laws, accident procedures, contacts

 Driving, hmmmmm?  In a new country, no knowledge of anything? Should do your homework first.  Still, if you get stuck, at your first hotel, go to the business center and log on and find out the laws.

This site lays out what to do. See Netherlands driving laws at www.fevr.org/anwbfevr%20E%20netherlands.htm.

You will also find traffic-calming carried to an expert extreme.

Speed limited by the design of the road.

In the Netherlands, they are wise.  They do not just post the speed limits.  They do not try to coax, cajole, threaten.  They incentivize.  If you speed and hit something, your bad.

They make the road impossible (almost) to drive at a higher speed. There are large, wide humps for pedestrians, of a cobble often that further slows you down, peninsulas of trees jutting out, room for only two cars to park, then another peninsula, for example, roundabouts, and often the road narrows from a dual passageway to one lane before entering somewhere so you absolutely have to slow down and see who else is coming; or from a two-lane each way to one-lane each way.

Dikes and canals. Few guard rails. You just might slide right in.

Trees. These, along the canals, may have a metal pipe ring around the tree on the canal side, 3 feet up or so, enough to catch the top of the hood or fender of your car if you are not careful - not down at the bumper level.

Do not try to park too close to an old town market area.

There are meters with short periods for non-residents and few places. You may find yourself boxed in with a moving van in front and cars behind, the canal to one side and the houses on the other and there you sit. Take the city lot and walk a little.

Links, posts, archives

All references to third-party websites are in word form, not the handier blue-links. Copyright concerns us. See www.bitlaw.com and other sources.  What is the solution to the need to compensate originators for their work, while fostering the spread of memes, ideas. Perhaps - horrors - add the government. A pool for creativity.  Somebody uses your stuff, the government pays a fixed per click or block quote or link.  Better than asking users of internet to pay as they go. 

The posts here reflect later attempts to organize the material.  How else on Blogspot to get what you want up there first.
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